Today's Ride

[2manyoranges]

Yesterday"s ride included the commute home .... 18km in the dark on the Road Rat ...

V E R Y W E T

Stair rods. Cats and dogs. Unseen deep puddles. Shoes literally full of water. Everything soaked through, but good kit choice meant reasonably warm when pushing. In the wind and dark, this was good hardening for winter....

 

[benjabbi]

Is that an old railway line?

I went out for a quick blast this afternoon. Was a bit chilly out so definitely time foe more layers and socks!

Yes, old railway between Stanwick and Thrapston. Now a pleasant walk/ride.

 

[2manyoranges]

well.....

Today's ride was on trails so loaded with fallen beech leaves that pathfinding at speed was .... challenging.
A carpet of a million gradations of bronze....
Thousands of sweet chestnut husks like pools of ball bearings.
Pump the holes, throw your body into the turns.
Sun like trickling gold through the branches....

And a new Renthal 50mm stem which genuinely transformed the handling of the mmmBop; the 35mm stem felt good, always, but I still felt I could weight the front significantly more. I hooked out a 42,5 renthal apex stem - which turned out to be 50mm after I had fitted it. Oh well. Now...new Pike to go in...but no I will only change the stem, then I can see the impact of each component change rather than try to deconstruct a new combination of changes...

Bit of a footle around the car park....hmmm this feels REALLY different...can 15mm on the stem really make that much difference to the feel? Apparently yes. Ok...so onto the trail. Blimey the front end is far more difficult to lift over roots and things. Blimey twice...front end traction has escalated to 'glued to the ground' levels. A front end slide of 30cms which would have had me struggling turns into a small sideways movement which I bring back instantly. This is good...very good. Yes, I am a bit further forward on drops, but this is not what I am doing on this bike for now. In the tight single track I am much much faster in each turn. A small uncertain smile turns into a big one as the km pass in the forest...an excellent morning on the roots and leaves and sand and loam....

 

[Frankenorange]

Yes, old railway between Stanwick and Thrapston. Now a pleasant walk/ride.

Love an old railway line to ride. It is fun to come across bits of infrastucture like bridges, huts, signal/telegraph posts, or bits of rail in car parks etc.

 

[BerthaPog]

Suns out, Ku’s out.

 

[benjabbi]

Little bit chilly but it's dry, good weather for it, modern bike today, different but not!

 

[2manyoranges]

Little bit chilly but it's dry, good weather for it, modern bike today, different but not! View attachment 787865

My my that‘s a long dropper, Sir.

 

[benjabbi]

My my that‘s a long dropper, Sir.

170mm I believe, handy bit of kit. One Up go upto 240mm now.

 

[al-onestare]

Some great weekend weather (now long gone) meant a cracking ride on Sunday afternoon. A solid 30 miles and 1000ft of elevation around the way, taking in a few new side roads/routes around Gulval, so taking out a nice portion of the B3311 which can get a bit silly in busy season.

Clear as a whistle at Sancreed beacon, the peak in the distance with the monument is Redruth so a good 20/25 miles away as the crow flies.

Through Drift, Mousehole and big-town, if I squint hard enough Gulval looked a bit like Kent. The pub looked decent.

Looking back to big town and Mousehole in the distance.

Looking west to where I'm heading.

Chilly up top before the decent back down to Gunard's Head.

 

[2manyoranges]

Some great weekend weather (now long gone) meant a cracking ride on Sunday afternoon. A solid 30 miles and 1000ft of elevation around the way, taking in a few new side roads/routes around Gulval, so taking out a nice portion of the B3311 which can get a bit silly in busy season.

Clear as a whistle at Sancreed beacon, the peak in the distance with the monument is Redruth so a good 20/25 miles away as the crow flies.

Through Drift, Mousehole and big-town, if I squint hard enough Gulval looked a bit like Kent. The pub looked decent.

Looking back to big town and Mousehole in the distance.

Looking west to where I'm heading.

Chilly up top before the decent back down to Gunard's Head.

Great photos as always … excellent